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Misto - Days 150-155: June 6-11 Across to the Lau Group in Fiji



We spent the last couple of days in Tonga in Neiafu as the weather was rainy. In fact on our last day there the heavens opened and there was a deluge of rain for several hours that made the roads into rivers for a while. We stocked up on fresh produce at the local market and welcomed Cecilie from WCC on board for the passage to Lomaloma on Vanua Balavu.

We departed on June 9 in calm conditions that we hoped would yield some wind suitable for sailing. However, we eventually motored the whole way apart from a few hours of sailing on the second day. We were warned that charts of the Fiji area are not entirely accurate and we found out that our electronic charts are about 0.5 nm out and displaced to the North East. We utilized the waypoints WCC had supplied without mishap but it is very disconcerting to be apparently sailing across obstructions and anchoring on land according to the chart!

The biosecurity, customs and immigration officials came out to each boat and the formalities were all completed allowing us ashore. The Sevusevu ceremony of presenting a gift, usually of kava, to the local chief had been performed by Eli (the agent) and so late in the afternoon we decided to take a walk in the village and were met by a tall, gracious Fijian named Joel along with his two daughters aged 5 and 8. Tongans and Fijians live in the village, each with their own church, and there is still a lot of reconstruction work going on from cyclone Winston last season. Indeed the trees on the skyline are skeletons completely denuded of leaves and are just starting to grow again. Joel offered us tea at his house - the Fijian custom is always to offer hospitality to visitors and we gladly accepted. He used to live on "the big island" and worked as a shipbuilder, now he lives the village life of growing bananas and other vegetables, as well as fishing from the beach where he catches mullet-like fish. When he needs supplies from the shop he sells bananas so he has money to purchase what he needs. We were touched by how he shared his home, family and life with us.


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